The Penguins touched the Prince of Wales trophy again after beating the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
That’s significant because it’s a superstitious NHL tradition not to lay hands on the award presented to the Eastern Conference champion, the wisdom being that the Stanley Cup is the only championship trophy worth embracing.
That didn’t work out for the Penguins so well in 2008, however. They kept their hands off of it before losing the Cup final to the Detroit Red Wings. So they changed up their strategy the following year, touching it before they downed those same Red Wings in seven games to win the Cup for the third time in franchise history.